Bio
First Musical Experiences
4th Grade Trumpet - Moved to Bloomington, MN in 5th grade - promoted to the 6th grade band - Played in band through high school
7th Grade - First guitar - Lessons after school for a couple months
1979 - College - Brought my 7th grade "Hohner Contessa" guitar to UW-Stout and a friend made it "playable" - Took 4 semesters of guitar and became somewhat proficient
1988 - Bought a book called "Country and Blues Harmonica for the Musically Hopeless" by Jon Gindick - Changed my life!
My Harmonica Journey
1988 - Discovered the Gindick book - Mastered the material while making a 30 minute commute to work.
2001 - Went through a divorce and started to explore live music again - learning to live life as a single person
2002 - "Played Out" for the first time at an open mic - Floyd's in Victoria - Sunday nights - I was hooked!
2005 - Took some lessons with Clint Hoover - Thought I was pretty good and soon realized just how mediocre I really was...
2006 - Attended a Jon Gindick "Jam Camp" - Dennis Gruenling was my personal "coach" for the weekend
2007 - Attended "Rockers in the Rockies" with Jason Ricci. Met Paul Davies and Ronnie Shellist at this event. Chris Michalek taught me how to "over-blow".
2008 - Started Playing chromatic harmonica with the Twin Cities Harmonica Society.
2009- Attended my first SPAH convention (Society for the Preservation and Advancement of Harmonica) in Sacramento, CA
2010 - SPAH came to Minneapolis - I was hooked!
2011 - Attended SPAH in Virginia Beach
2014 - Attended the "Harmonica Collective" in Indianapolis, IN - Jason Ricci and Winslow Yerxa hosted this one. Also PT Gazell and Ross Garren
2016 - SPAH - San Antonio, TX
2017 - Started the MN Blues Brothers with Randy Arneson. Had our debut performance on July 22nd - Part of the Midwest Harmonica Workshop
2017 - SPAH - Tulsa, OK
2018 - SPAH - St Louis, MO
2019 - SPAH - Tulsa. OK
2021 - Palm Coast Harmonica Workshop - Jerry Fierro and Todd Parrot - also Rob Paparozzi
2022 - National Anthem on harmonica at the St Paul Saints game! (see videos)
2023 - SPAH - St Louis, MO - (60th Anniversary and my number 8!)
I continue to jam at open mics and sit in with several local bands.
Started to play bass guitar during a COVID19 unemployment (Summer of 2020)
Home recording was another COVID19 related project
My first "real" recording sessions was with the Mudd Brothers at the Terrarium Recording Studio in Minneapolis. Free Blowin' Storm is now available on iTunes.